Man faces sex charges after police say he lured girls into his apartment

A man molested a neighbor girl after luring her and two playmates into his central valley apartment by asking them to help “style his hair,” according to Las Vegas police.

While there, an arrest report shows, the man changed into a black thong and a bra. Then he told the girls to put makeup on him and to pick out “something attractive” for him to wear.

John Stephen Merrill, 45, of Paoli, Penn., was arrested April 17. He faces 28 charges, including luring a child, luring a child to perform a sex act, lewdness with a child under 14, kidnapping and child abuse, Clark County Detention Center logs records show.

Metro said the assault happened the day before and that Merrill actually called police — for a different reason.

Someone in the complex, in the 4500 block of Pennwood Ave., near Clark High School, was being too loud, which prompted Merrill to call, police said. While responding to that call, police came in with at least three girls, who later said they had been in the apartment, and their parents.

The girls were playing outside when Merrill brought them into his apartment about 5 p.m. April 16, Metro said. Once inside Merrill changed into two outfits that included a red mesh skirt, a black leotard with a snap on the crotch, and black panty hose with garter underwear, police said. He changed in front of them and one girl told police that she saw him naked.

At some point Merrill pulled out sex toys from two duffel bags, the girls told police. One of the girls told police that he used two of the toys on her before she was able to shove him and leave the apartment with another girl. They told an adult.

The arrest report did not indicate that adult called police.

Police said the girls, who were interviewed separately, told the same stories about what happened.

A search by investigators determined Merrill has a history of arrests in six other states, the arrest report said. That charges of indecent exposure, attempting to lure a child into a vehicle and kidnapping a juvenile, who happened to be his neighbor.

The arrest report did not indicate whether Merrill had been convicted on those charges.

Merrill was initially arrested in Las Vegas on seven counts of luring a child and one count of lewdness with a child under 14, his arrest report said.

After further evaluating the case, Clark County prosecutor Amy Ferreira said Monday, she filed an additional 20 charges.

Merrill was being held Monday at the Clark County Detention Center. Bail had not been set.

Police confiscated a phone, the arrest report said, after a girl told them that she’d seen Merrill taking photos of her.

Contact Ricardo Torres at rtorres@reviewjournal.com and 702-383-0381. Find him on Twitter: @rickytwrites.